FLINTSHIRE animal rescues are hoping for a quieter 2010, after what one pet rescue owner has branded the worst year to date.

Sheila Stewart, who runs Capricorn Animal Rescue, at Padeswood, said they were caring for 264 animals at the moment and wouldn’t be able to take any more in until some had found new homes.

She said: “We have started rehoming animals now after Christmas, but we expect to have a lot more coming in to us at the end of the month when people start to get fed up with the animals they got at Christmas.

“When people go back to work and the puppy is left at home they realise how much hard work they are.”

Sheila said the recession was still having an impact on the number of pets needing new homes.

“2009 has been the worst year I’ve known,” she said.

“It’s not getting any easier and people are still getting evicted.”

At Flintshire Wildlife and Pet Rescue in Holywell the situation is similar, said owner Joy Pierce-Jones.

“We are completely full. Every year we see animals come in about mid-January which have been bought as Christmas presents so we are expecting a rush.

“People haven’t looked into what having a pet involves so when the animals start to claw the furniture and make a mess they don’t want them any more.”

Staff were called to rescue several animals over Christmas, including a ferret which was found in a shed.

Capricorn Animal Rescue had a call about a cat abandoned in the snow in Buckley.

Sheila said: “He saw a man walking in the snow with a box and he just a tipped a cat out of it into the snow and left it there.”